California set to implement electronic license plates

Originally published on September 26, 2013

California may soon lead the way into the future with passage of a bill that would allow for an electronic license plate program.

The digital plate is essentially a 12-inch-by-6-inch computer screen, using technology similar to that seen on e-readers such as Amazon's Kindle. The electronic plates would be able to carry messages from digit numbers and letters to words like 'STOLEN', 'SUSPENDED', or 'UNINSURED', and even to make an 'AMBER ALERT'.

Senate Bill 806 authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to create a pilot program to test 0.5 percent of registered cars in the U.S. Each digital plate will be linked wirelessly to the Department of Motor Vehicles. The display will only consume electricity when changing messages and additional power can be generated constantly either through the vehicle's vibrations and from the headlights of other vehicles behind it.

The state-issued electronic device inevitably yields other complications, as privacy advocates are concerned that the electronic plates could leave drivers vulnerable to government surveillance.

The California bill includes a provision built that prohibits the DMV from collecting or retaining data about "the movement, location, or use of a vehicle in the pilot program."

Lee Tien, an attorney at Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Ars Technica, that the bill has "gotten some amendments that address some of the location privacy issues -- within the pilot, the DMV would not be receiving any location information. But the company that operates the plates would [have access, and] they are going to be controlling what's on the plates."

The pilot program is scheduled to go into effect by 2017.

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